Chapter Twelve: If.You.Wanna.Party...

 (10/31/99)

    "Hurry up!"
    "Is this the mailbox? Are you sure?"
    "Yes!" the first one hissed as the other dropped the envelope in the mailbox.
    "Can I put it in?" a third showed up. The first one whirled around.
    "Don't scare me like that! No, we already put it in. Were are the other two?"
    "Those chickens are still in the van. They're scared of doing this broad daylight, " the third answered.
    "Fine, less people to attract attention - shit, there's a car, c'mon!" the first pushed her two colleagues towards their van, loaded up, and drove off.

~*~*~*~

(4 hours later)

    "So what are you, again?" Brian teased.
    "You know fully well what I'm dressed as, mister, stoppit! It's like, what - 7:40 in that time zone of yours, isn't it? Shouldn't you be prepping for the show or something!? " Jenny whined, over the phone.
    "Ouch, I guess I should obey Miss Cinderella, huh?"
    "You bet your butt you do!"
    "Such language!"
    "Bri-AN!"
    "Sorry to cut this short, but I assume your other line is busy - Kev wants to take his turn on the phone."
    "Bye, mister."
    "Bye, lil' missy."
    "Hey, Jen," Kevin's voice filtered onto the line.
    "Hey, Muscle Man, what's up?"
    "Did Brian tell you how cruel he's been?"
    "No..."
    "We're all dressed up right now...and he's a clown. You can't even recognize him. Anyway, you can prolly hear the opening acts right now, but beforehand, he went out to the front rows and took pictures of the fans...they didn't know it was him!"
    "How cruel!"
    "Wasn't it?"
    "Punch him for me, will ya?'" Jenny teased. She heard a faint "ow" in the background and Brian trying to retaliate.
    "Mission accomplished, and hi, by the way," AJ grabbed the phone from Kevin. "Rok's arm is now dead, no thanks to you and Train."
    "That'll teach him to mess with the fans!...Where'd Kev go?"
    "I decided I wanted the privilege of talking to Miss Cinderella and took the phone...he went to get his camera to tape us before we go on. He said to say 'hi' to Sarah by the way."
    "Will do...I'd love to talk, but it's my turn to go-"
    "Aw, but I'll be bored then! Kev's gone, Nick got D to play Nintendo or something...and now a pouting Brian is headed off in their direction...I'm here allll alone!" AJ whined. "...give or take a few backstage people, that is," he laughed.
    "Poor baby. How's this - I'll grab the next girl that doesn't look occupied with getting ready, k? Bye - but hang on for someone!" Jenny stated. She spotted Julie coming down the hall, decked out in her costume, ready to go. She grabbed Julie's arm, pulled her into our room, sat her on my bed, and gave her the phone before disappearing into our bathroom to fiddle with the blond wig on her head.
    "Hello...?"
    "Hey, Julie!"
    "Oh...hi, AJ. Sorry if I sounded confused. I was given a phone...and Jenny deserted me."
    "Understandable. What's she doing?"
    "Fixing her wig, WHICH IS FINE," Julie stated loudly for her friend to hear. Jenny glanced at Julie, stuck out her tongue, and continued to fiddle with the wig.
    "Wig...? Oh yeah! Cinderella had blond hair! My memory needs to kick in...you're Mulan, Hannah is Esmerelda, Cathy's Belle, Sarah's Jasmine, and Chin's Ariel, right?"
    "Bravo..."
    "Fye trguy."
    "What?"
    "Sorry...I was chewing...I said 'I try'."
    "Food in mouth? What are you eating?"
    "Just stuff that's sitting around-"
    "EWW!"
    "...from the dinner buffet thingy."
    "Oh...that's okay then."
    "Yeah...Hey, Nick's back from his Nintendo-fest...Ooooh! he's giving me the FACE...yes, Nick, it's one of the girls...Yes, Nick, it's Julie...No, Nick - I'm talking to her...Sit down, Nick!...NO, Nick!....AH!...Let go of the freaking phone, Nick!...ARGH!...Fine, You talk to her...Bye, Julie," AJ gave a huff.
    "Hey, Jules."
    "Hey yourself, Nicky-boy...was that attack on AJ really necessary?" Julie asked as she left my room and walked down the hallway.
    "Of course, I'm talking to you now, aren't I? How's Miss Mulan doing?"
    "Did you guys commit to memory what we're all dressing up as, or something!?" She got to her room.
    "You could say that I guess, but not really..."
    "Descriptive."
    "Of course."
    "Have you checked your mail yet?"
    "No, our connection is down."
    "Not email, I meant real mail."
    "No, why?"
    "I'm so hurt - remember we told you to expect something in the mail?"
    "When was this?"
    "Like last week or something...go check it! It should be there today!"
    "Hold your horses...I dunno if everyone is still getting ready...Jenny left to go help Hannah with her gypsy stuff...SAH-RAH!" she yelled.
    "I have to find another scarf...! What?" I popped my head into her room.
    "Is everyone helping Hannah?"
    "No, Kat's down stairs with the dogs, and Chin's trying to find a blue bow for her hair, why? Do you have a scarf!?" I asked frantically.
    "No...it's just Nick here wants to know if we've gotten our mail."
    "REMEMBER!?" Nick yelled into the phone so I could hear. Julie pulled her ear away from the phone a bit. A light bulb went off in my head.
    "THE THING THAT THEY SENT IS HERE!?...I'll go get it!" I immediately left and ran down the hallway. Jenny and Hannah yelled in confusion at me as I passed without a scarf or explanation.
    "Nice going, Nick...we now have a Jasmine running down the stairs in unstable curled shoes."
    "I guess she didn't like waiting for it, huh?" Nick laughed, as his bandmates, who had all returned to the area, looked at him oddly. "Sarah went to go check their mail," he told them. They smiled, and gathered around Nick, waiting for our reaction.
    By this time, Julie had gone downstairs with the cordless phone, followed by a curious Hannah and Jenny. I came back inside clutching all the mail in my arms, and headed to the kitchen table to dump it. Chin emerged from the guestroom in her full attire, apparently having found the blue bow to add to her redhead wig to top off the Ariel costume. Cathy opened the door from the garden and entered with the dogs, decked out in Belle's golden dress with all the trimmings; make-up, jewelry, and hair. I was frantically digging through the mail.
    "Do you like it? Do you like it??" Nick asked anxiously on the phone.
    "We haven't found it yet!" Julie exclaimed. Nick mouthed 'they haven't found it yet' to the curious Boys.
    I found an envelope that simply stated "To our girls" typed on the front.
    "This must be it," I opened up the envelope while the girls watched. It never registered in my brain that there should have been a full address on there in order for the Boys to have been able to send us something...I unfolded the letter that was inside it.

    Dear girls...We feel bad not saying this to your face, but it had to be done. We've faced a fact...you can't be part of our lives anymore. As much as we hate to admit it, we've finally come to terms with reality - you've gotten in our way too many times. To go on would be to stay in a dream world...and we can't afford to do that. Career-wise, and for our mental health. We're too busy and can't handle this anymore. We hope you understand, but hate us if you want to. In fact, we're through with being nice. We don't want to see you again, ever. Forget about us, as we'll easily forget about you, now that you're out of our lives...

    I blinked. All their signatures were at the bottom of the typed letter.  Was I reading correctly? They had actually sent this?
    "C'mon, I wanna see it!" Cathy grabbed the letter from me.
    I sat down - I felt like crying. How could they do this?
    "Well!?" Nick asked, still waiting on the phone.
    "Hang on," Julie put it down and went to read over Cathy's shoulder when she saw my reaction. Cathy grabbed the phone from the table.
"We waited over a week for this!?" she cried out, trying not to yell, feeling angry and hurt at the same time.
    "What!?" Nick exclaimed, confused. He gave the phone to Brian, unsure of what to do.
    "What's the matter?" Brian asked.
    By this time, we had all read it. Julie and I were silent, sitting in shock. It was Chin's turn to grab the phone.
    "This isn't funny, you guys. If that was what we were waiting for, then you all are sick. If you were serious about it, well...I really don't know what to say to you," she fumed.
    "What are you talking about?" It was Brian's turn to be confused. He shoved the phone to AJ.
    "What's up? You guys don't like it?"
    "Like it!?" Cathy took the phone back. "Mind telling us what the hell there is to LIKE!?" she exclaimed. AJ winced. The guys could hear Cathy's voice. I looked at the clock and murmured something about how we had to go. "Look, we've got to go to a Halloween party at the moment...and we're late. Goodnight...By the way, HAVE A GOOD CONCERT," Cathy practically hissed into the phone, before hanging up.
    "They...I mean...It's just...I can't believe it," Julie mumbled, looking at the table.
    "I knew it was too good to be true...I...I..." I trailed off, my head in my hands.
    "Don't talk like that...You know what? They acted like they didn't know what was going on," Chin fumed.
    "It just doesn't seem right, they would never do that..." Hannah muttered.
    "Hanging up like that was a little harsh, Kat," I mumbled.
    "We anticipated something nice for over a week, and we get a horrible blow. And then they asked if we freaking LIKED it... If they wanna be assholes, let them. I'm not gonna let this ruin my Halloween. We're late to Jack's party, so c'mon." Cathy left for the front door, with the house keys in her hand.

     On the other side of the line, AJ looked at the contraption in his hand as the dial tone filtered into his ear.
    "They...don't like it?" Howie asked, bewildered.
    "Something's wrong...they...I don't think they got it, you guys...Something made them really mad and upset..." AJ trailed off.
    "We...we don't have time to brood over it right now...Show's gonna start...We'll call them after, okay?" Kevin took the phone from AJ and put it away. The guys nodded, and headed off for their prayer, silently wondering what had just happened between us.

~*~*~*~

    "If I trip one more freaking time, I'm seriously gonna rip these shoes offa my feet," I grumbled, trying to steady myself for the billionth time. We were walking to Jack's house - he lived only a few blocks away. Hannah had opted to stay home to greet the trick-or-treaters.
    "Calm down, Sarah. It's only pavement," Jenny said, as I lunged forward again, this time using her to keep my balance.
    "You try these things," I grunted.
    "You ran down the stairs with them perfectly fine," Jenny stated. We walked in uncomfortable silence. I had run down the stairs to get the mail...
    "...Forget about the damn letter. We agreed not to let the Boys ruin our night," Cathy reminded us.
    "We shoulda dressed up the animals and brought them," Chin changed the subject as we turned a corner in the moonlight.
    "Are you crazy?" I asked.
    "No...I coulda made Coke and Sprite Flounder and Sebastian, or Scuttle, or Prince Eric's dog, something," Chin tried to back up her statement.
    "Yeah. Darwin as Rajah, Roky as Gus-gus, and Kezia as Chip or that candlestick dude - I can see it now..." Cathy laughed.
    "Whatever...are we there yet?" Julie finally spoke up.
    "Yeah, almost, down this road," Chin directed us. A few houses down, five people jumped out of the bushes in front of us. I screamed.
    "Calm down," one of them said. They were dressed like army soldiers.
    "Are you girls headed to the Halloween party down there?" another one of them pointed to Jack's house. Cars lined the road and the building seemed alive with activity.
    "Yes..." Chin cautiously answered.
    "Well, we're the welcoming party!" the third one informed us.
    "HAPPY HALOWEEN!" the fourth and fifth yelled as all five of them assailed us unmercifully with eggs. We screamed and ran the rest of the way to Jack's house. We got to his front gate, and turned around to find that our five assailants had disappeared.
    "Look at my costume! It's RUINED!" I wailed, getting more upset by the second. Jenny, Chin, and Cathy were trying to pick egg yolk out of their wigs.
    "What a wonderful Halloween," Julie muttered, resting against the gate, closing her eyes, trying to calm herself.  Chin was furious. She told us to stay outside while she went to have a word with Jack: we were going home.
    Jack greeted an egg-covered Chin at the door. He began to laugh at the sight, and before he was able to make any comment, Chin spoke up, angrily.
    "Smooth, Jack, real smooth. Nice welcoming party. We're pissed off as it is, and you put the icing on the cake. Looks like the party is going fine without us, so we're leaving. Goodbye." She turned around and left for the front gate, leaving a shocked Jack at his door.
    We turned tail and walked home, silently wondering what else could go wrong.

    "What the...?" Cathy said when we returned to the house and found it completely lit. When we had left, Hannah told us to not bother with the front lights - it was supposed to be dark for the trick-or-treaters.
    I pulled out my key and opened our front door. Out of nowhere, Hannah jumped at us, with Cathy's bat in her hands, ready to swing.
    "AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" we all screeched in shock. Hannah screamed in fright from us screeching at her.
    "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" I screamed, my heart still fluttering.
    "I-I didn't know you'd be home so early," Hannah paused, looking pale. "W-why are you covered in e-eggs?"
    "Long story..." Cathy muttered.
    "Why are you shaking?" Chin asked, ushering us inside.
    "S-some freaks were calling me on the ph-phone, saying stuff like 'Y-you home alone? The girls are all g-gone? And you had a fight with the B-boys? They can't h-help you now...' and stuff...and...I th-thought you guys were attackers or s-something cuz you didn't ring the d-doorbell but just came r-right on in..." Hannah stuttered, still afraid.
    "What a terrible night," Julie mumbled.
    "I'm gonna go upstairs and change. I've had enough of this egg crap drying on me," I grumbled.
    They all followed my example, wanting to get out of the eggy costumes - Hannah came up too, being too afraid of being alone.

(45 min later)
    "Okay, now that we're showered and relaxed, I say we sit, eat some munchies, and have a safe, clean night watching a movie or two," Chin stated, as we met one by one upstairs in the hall after we changed into our PJ's.
    "I second that," Julie stated. Nick would say that, she caught herself thinking.
We all bumbled down to the kitchen and family room, and got ready to have a relaxing evening. That is, until Chin decided we were going to watch Scream.
    "Nuh-uh, no way, Chin...me and scary movies don't mix,. You've already watched it, anyway, and I can live without seeing it." I folded my arms, and kept my position on my stool at the kitchen counter. They were all sitting in the family room.
    "Sarah, c'mon! It's Halloween, for crying out loud!" Chin whined.
    "So? I'm already pissed and scared and I don't need to see a horror movie right now."
    "I'm TOTALLY with Sarah," Hannah piped up.  In a British accent, she added, "My nerves have had quite enough for one day.  I can't take this anymore."
    "We already decided the phone calls were some lame prank-" Chin began.
    "The Boys wouldn't do that," I whispered.
    "How do you know?" Cathy interjected from her spot o the couch. "They already sent that letter, they can do anything." She crossed her arms and started at the blank screen of the TV. Julie was sitting on the ground with the two kittens, trying not to pay attention. Hannah sat between Darwin and Kezia on the floor. Jenny sat on a sofa, using a sleepy Roky as her footstool.
    "Fine," I got up and came to the family room, not having the energy for anymore arguing. I flopped on the sofa beside Jenny, who used my shoulder as a pillow. Chin sighed and put the tape in.
    Julie eventually fell asleep, and Jenny was close to that stage. Cathy still looked mad, and Chin and Hannah were the only ones paying any real attention to the screen. In the middle of a scary scene, our phone rang. Hannah half screeched, and half squawked in reaction, which woke up the two sleepy heads, snapped Cathy out of her trance, and set me off screaming. Julie, Cathy, and Jenny yelled at us, the "vocal ones". In the midst of the arguing, Chin kept her calm, stopped the video, and reached over to a side table next to her couch to pick up the phone.
    "Chin?" Kevin spoke up. She could hear the other guys...they were on speakerphone.
    "It's the guys," she put her hand over the mouthpiece and told us. Hannah was still scared, Jenny yawned, Cathy looked out the window, and Julie and I kept silent.
    "Put them on speaker," Jenny suggested. Chin hit the button and sat down
    "Are all of you there?" Brian asked.
    "Yes," we replied.
    "And I have a headache, so spill it," Cathy mumbled.
    "This is a ridiculous reason to fight, or even be angry, for that matter...over silly photographs?" AJ spoke up.
    "What photographs?" Chin asked.
    "We aren't arguing over damn photographs," Cathy spat. I raised an eyebrow at her.
    "Then what!?" Howie exclaimed.
    "Geeze, I dunno...a letter saying 'we never wanna see you again, stay out of our lives' is just a LITTLE mean..." Jenny scoffed. Julie and I stayed silent.
    "Who sent you that?!" Brian asked.
    "Well, geeÖmaybeÖyou did?" Hannah answered.
    "We sent pictures...not a letter... especially not one that said we don't want to see you ever again," Kevin said incredulously.
    "Well we got a letter saying all that and more... signed by all of you," Jenny replied. We heard the guys yelling at each other.
    "Nick! Did you pull a stupid prank?"
    "I didn't do it! I swear!"
    "That's not funny, man!"
    "AJ, if you think-"
    "Shut up, Brian, who knows you didn't do anything?"
    "What photos were they, anyway? We didn't get it..." Julie spoke up. We looked at each other silently as we waited for them to answer, not wanting to think about who had sent the letter. The Boys quieted down.
    "We all dressed up to be the counterparts of what you guys had planned to be for Halloween, and took pictures for you to see," Nick explained. "I was Captain Shang..." Nick trailed off. If only he had seen the smile slowly creep onto Julie's face.
    "And I was Prince Eric..." AJ stated. Chin tried not to laugh.
    "I was the nameless Prince Charming," Brian confessed. Jenny giggled.
    "I even rented the Beast costume," Howie said. Cathy got a laughing, but horrified look on her face. 'Now we have to see that picture' she mouthed.
    "And I was Aladdin," Kevin spoke up. I smiled. "We even got Lance to take a picture with him as Captain of the Guard - what's his name - Phoebus, for Hannah, " he finished. We all looked at each other, grinning from ear to ear. How could we be mad at them? On cue, we replied to their explanation.
    "AWWW!!!!" we cooed. The guys laughed at us.
    "Typical women!" AJ exclaimed.
    "While you're on good terms with us, how was your night, by the way?" Brian asked. "The concert rocked, as usual," he laughed.
    "Always humble," I stated.
    "It could have been better..." Chin commented, bitterly.
    "It's not our fault!" Howie exclaimed.
    "The letter is not all that happened to us," I sighed, finally speaking.
    "So sAH-rAH is alive," AJ snickered.
    "Shuttup, Bone," Brian warned.
    "We were going to Jack's party, as you know...we didn't appreciate his humor with a welcoming committee that attacked us with eggs, so we came home-" Julie explained.
    "After I gave him a piece of my mind, that is," Chin grumbled. We heard the Boys try not to snicker.
    "And you're sure he sent them to get you with eggs?" Howie asked.
    "They said he sent them," Chin answered, not ready to acknowledge the fact that we had maybe jumped to conclusions.
    "Anyway, we got home, Hannah practically killed us with a bat-" I continued.
    "What!?" The guys couldn't help it and were laughing by now.
    "It's not funny. I was getting weird phone calls and the girls came home early and didn't bother to knock and scared the crap outtah me when they just opened the door looking all weird with egg on 'em!" Hannah said in one breath. The guys were hysterical. We waited while they came to their senses and stopped laughing.
    "Sorry," Nick apologized, being the first to catch his breath.
    "I guess you guys did have an eventful night, huh?" AJ asked.
    "That's an understatement," I grunted.
    "Look, we'll make it up to you guys-" Howie began.
    "But it wasn't your fault!" Hannah interrupted him.
    "No matter, we had this idea anyways-" Kevin began.
    "Doyougirlswannacometoanothervideoshoot?!" Nick spat out, as if he couldn't hold it any longer.
    "WhatdidyousayNick?I'msorry,butIdidn'tundsterandyou!" Jenny mocked him.
    "We thought you guys would like to come to another video shoot," Brian explained." 'Show Me The Meaning' is gonna be the next single, and we're shooting the video in the beginning of December- you game?"
    "YES!" we all replied. Plans were made, and each of tried to forget about the evening's events. Sure, we wondered who had sent the letter, and who those girls were, but in a sense, we didn't really want to know. We didn't want more trouble. We didn't want to deal with it. Maybe if we left this thing alone, it would just go away....

~*~*~*~

(the next day)

    "Yello?"
    "Alex!"
    "Sup, hon?"
    "We got it in the mail today!"
    "Got what?"
    "THE PICTURES!" we all yelled. We were in the kitchen, huddled around the infamous pictures. Chin had grabbed the phone to call the Boys.
    "I'll tell the guys." AJ got up from his bunk and went to search the bus.
    "Okay, you do that, I gotta get the door." Chin put the phone on hold and ran to the front of the house as the doorbell rang, seeing that the rest of us were still looking at the pictures. "Back," she stated, picking up the phone a few minutes later.
    "It's about time, gurl. The guys are all antsy. Brian called your other line and Kat picked it up. She's passing the phone around so we can get your guys' reactions. What's yours?"
    "It's too cute for words..." Chin replied, smiling at some pictures over Julie's shoulder.
    "Oh, and who was it at the door, by the way?"
    "Oh, it was Jack."
    "Why?" AJ was curious.
    "Oh, just saying sorry for laughing at us, and that he didn't have time to tell me he had no clue what I was talking about; he didn't have a welcoming party...odd...I apologized for yelling at him. Oh, and he gave me my late birthday present. He was gonna give it to me at the party, just a friendship ring, nothing big-KAT! Gimmie my CHIPS!" Chin exclaimed as Cathy stole the bag that she had just opened. Chin handed the phone to Jenny and ran after the criminal. AJ didn't have time to respond. 'Just a friendship ring' repeated in his head. By this time, Cathy and Julie had had their turns on the second line, and I was talking to Howie about his attempt at the Beast costume.
    "Earth to AJ." Jenny munched on an apple.
    "Sorry..." he stuttered. "Hey, I gotta go, uh, talk to the bus driver," AJ made an excuse and looked for an unoccupied Boy. "Here's Nick." He shoved the phone to his friend and left the back area of the bus to head towards the bunks.
 
 

Chapter Thirteen: I've.Got.Something.That's.On.My.Mind
.If.I.Don't.Have.You. Index
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